cover image Like Mother, Like Daughter: How Women Are Influenced by Their Mother's Relationship with Food and How to Break the Pattern

Like Mother, Like Daughter: How Women Are Influenced by Their Mother's Relationship with Food and How to Break the Pattern

Debra Waterhouse. Hyperion Books, $21.45 (256pp) ISBN 978-0-7868-6167-5

An obsession with dieting can actually cause weight gain, according to Waterhouse, a California research nutritionist. In summaries of dozens of studies and interviews, she shows how the height/weight charts have changed since the 1960s, how mothers protect their daughters from fat and thereby undernourish them and how girls, by age five, are diet-conscious. She cites a University of California study indicating that 80% of American girls are dieting by age 10. How to regain common sense about body shape, weight and food? The clue, Waterhouse states, is getting mothers free of a punishing culture so they in turn can free their daughters to find comfort in their body's healthy weight. Low-fat foods may actually contribute to weight gain: ""Fat-free Fig Newtons contain 110 calories per serving; so do the regular Fig Newtons."" Humor is used well throughout: ""Scales are for fish, not for women."" This book is filled with sensible tips for breaking the dieting habit and self-rating exercises to improve one's relationship with food. (Jan.)